Scammers target elderly

No legitimate business or agency would ever call your home, uninvited, and request banking, credit card or Social Security information.

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By MIKE FORNESmike@cheboygantribune.com

Cheboygan Daily Tribune - Cheboygan, MI

By MIKE FORNESmike@cheboygantribune.com

Posted Apr. 19, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By MIKE FORNESmike@cheboygantribune.com

Posted Apr. 19, 2013 at 12:01 AM

PETOSKEY

No legitimate business or agency would ever call your home, uninvited, and request banking, credit card or Social Security information.

Period.

No government agency, including the Internal Revenue Service, would do this, stresses Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin.

“The Emmet County Sheriff’s Office has recently been inundated with calls from area senior citizens reporting a Medicare scam circulating our area,” Wallin said Thursday in a news release. “These citizens are receiving calls from a person posing as a Medicare official asking for personal information, such as banking or credit card numbers. They claim they need this information so they can send an updated Medicare card.”

Some area senior citizens have fallen for the scam or aren’t sure if the should give the information over the phone.

“Medicare does not perform business in this matter and at no time should citizens give this information over the phone,” Wallin said emphatically. “Although this is a well-known scam there are those who believe the scammer is trying to help.”

There is an easy way to check out inquiries of this nature if you still aren’t sure, Wallin added.

“If there is a question to its legitimacy, please contact the company directly, or contact the Emmet County Sheriff’s Office or directly contact Detective/Sgt. J.L. Sumpter at (231) 439-8901.